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Senate revives Ballard’s roads and sidewalks plan

By Jon Murray, jon.murray@indystar.com
6:44 p.m. EST January 28, 2014

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A crew from Calumet Civil Contactors lays down 270-degree asphalt as they repave Audubon Road at 16th Street on the east side Tuesday on June 19, 2012. The paving project was part of the city’s RebuildIndy initiative.
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Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard’s plan to expand the city’s RebuildIndy roadwork initiative hit a wall in the City-County Council, but it found new life Tuesday in the Indiana Senate.

Changes by Ballard’s fellow Republicans to a Central Indiana mass transit bill could revive his proposal to spend more than $100 million on new sidewalks, bridges, road resurfacing and other projects in Indianapolis.

The senators inserted a provision that would allow Ballard to bypass the Democrat-controlled City-County Council and instead let the state issue the needed bonds.

In August, the council’s Democrats spiked the mayor’s plan, arguing it was irresponsible to pay for three years’ worth of improvements using bonds the city would spend three decades repaying.

Ballard proposed spending $135 million to $150 million — targeted to neighborhoods that have been crying out for sidewalks, including along Troy Avenue on the Southside and along Hague Road on the Northeastside.

Since a council committee effectively tabled the plan last summer, though, the mayor has struggled to make headway with council leaders.

Enter the state Senate.

While considering the transit bill, the Senate Tax and Fiscal Policy Committee inserted a change targeted to Marion County only. It would authorize the Indiana Finance Authority to issue bonds to raise money for infrastructure-related projects in the city.

It’s a change that Ballard’s chief of staff, Ryan Vaughn, says the mayor didn’t request. Ballard and his staffers learned about the planned amendment Monday night, he said.

“But we’re certainly not opposed to it,” Vaughn said, calling it a positive development that could bring projects to more neighborhoods.

The Senate Republicans’ move enraged committee Democrats, who voted against the transit bill, and it drew criticism from council leaders.

President Maggie Lewis said via Twitter that she doesn’t support “unaccountable multimillion-dollar loans.”

“I simply do not understand why the mayor won’t sit down and work with the council leadership to find common ground,” Vice President John Barth said, saying he favors a more bipartisan approach.

Vaughn said he had tried to set up talks between Ballard and council leaders for months, to no avail.

Borrowing is an approach past mayors have used to pay for road improvements. Ballard argues it’s the only option to expand his signature RebuildIndy initiative, which the city started in 2010 with $430 million in proceeds from the sale of the municipal water and sewer utilities to Citizens Energy Group.

The proposed bonds would extend RebuildIndy by a year, through 2016. Any new spending would be on top of $200 million in planned projects from remaining utility money, federal grants and other sources.

The amended Senate bill, which still must be considered by the full Senate and then the House, would cap annual payments for new state-issued bonds at $7.5 million for 25 years, or $188 million. Payments would come from Indianapolis’ share of vehicle-related taxes.

The total includes interest, so it’s unclear whether the bonds’ upfront value would provide the full amount Ballard has sought.

Kelly Dyer is among neighborhood activists who has been hoping for a breakthrough.

She long has pushed the city to build a sidewalk along Hague Road to connect neighborhoods to Lawrence North High School and a library branch, arguing the area is unsafe for pedestrians.

“There isn’t anything that’s worked right in the City-County Council or the legislature this year,” said Dyer, president of the Cardinal Cove Homeowners Association. “Everything’s got to be a challenge — everything’s got to be a fight. I hate that part.

“But if (the Senate’s action) gets us neighborhood infrastructure, it would make a lot of people really happy and make their lives a lot easier.”